Let it Be
Let it Be is an AV project that is often cited as one of Wazoo's finest skits to date. The assignent was to make a film about a 'revolutionary' event in history. Thus, the group chose The Beatles' rise to fame around the world. =Cast= *John Lennon (Jamie O'Connell) *Paul McCartney *George Harrison (Giovanni Colantonio) *Ringo Starr (Franco Campese) *George Martin (Bryan Grove) *Brian Epstein (Jake Spillane) *Ed Sullivan (Dan Palermo) *Lennon's Murderer (Mike H) *Fans (Cory Pray, Sutton Dewey, Jack Samels, Joe Coletta) =Synopsis= The film begins with the band backstage preparing to play on The Ed Sullivan Show. Ed Sullivan greets the band and welcomes them to America. The show begins, and Ed Sullivan introduces the band, who go on to play "She Loves You." Towards the end, a voice over comes on from Paul, explaining how nervous they were. The band members speak about their sudden popularity and sudden rise in rabid fans. This cuts to a sequence based on "A Hard Day's Night", with the band being chased back and forth by a mob of fans. The band finally escapes to Brian Epstein's office, 5 hours late. Brian explains that he wishes to mass-market the band by putting their name and image on everything from shirts to manilla folders. A montage ensues showing the rise in merchandise and cash. George Harrison provides a voice over about how the band looked for inspiration to find a new song. This segues into a scene of the band high in a smoke filled room, singing "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds." George Martin comes down and yells at them, but soon joins in and helps the band create their new sound. After this, the conflict of Yoko Ono comes up. John shows the band a 'record' he and Yoko made, which causes discomfort and tension in the band. He also shows them their film "A Smile In Slow Motion", which outrages the band. To add to this tension, the band discovers that their manager has died. Along with the death and Yoko Ono's appearance, the band breaks-up. The scene plays voice-overs from the members as they disappear off a stage. Finally, the film ends with the band performing "Let It Be", edited together with John Lennon's death. =Reception= The film was recieved extremely well by both Wazoo and others. Paul Lindstrom awarded the project a 97 (The highest grade seen in class that year) and said he took off points for use of drugs. However, the group members suspect he just didn't want to award a perfect score. Lindstrom showed all of his classes the project, and even took it to Ohio to show to his students there. Upon its first premiere in class, the bell rang during the last scene, but not a single person moved. The room remained silent as people stayed and watched. The skit also got in the hands of other teachers who showed it to their classes as well. A year after it was made, it was being played to a class the day before Christmas break. Members of Wazoo also hailed the film as a Wazoo milestone. The film was poorly recieved, however, from a person from CalArts who said the film had 'Too much of a plot'. Film Festival Controversy After it was finished, Jamie claimed that he showed it to a relative who was trying to get it into a film festival. Hope rose amongst the group as this 'process' took place. However, it never happened. Jamie kept telling them that it was, but was delayed for some reason. It is unclear whether or not Jamie was lying about the entire situation, but it is entirely possible. =Production= The film took a month to make in all. It was one of the first, and only, Wazoo skits to have a script written for it. The script contained general guidelines for dialouge, including real band quotes. After the scripting process, the cast filmed smoothly for the rest of the month. As the deadline approached though, production became extremely rough. Scheduling conflicts arose, amongst other issues. For example, G's parents attempted to force him down Cape Cod for the last filming week end. This prompted Fred to write a heartfelt letter to the Colantonio's, which pissed them off but got the job done. Finally, filming conluded, leaving Fred to finish editing. However, the night before it was due, the skit clips suddenely disappeared. Chaos ensued, and Fred was forced to perform a system recovery. However, the power went out on his street during this. The lights finally came back on, and Fred recovered the clips. That night, Jamie came over Fred's to help him re-edit the skit. The two stayed up all night finishing it, and eventually brought it to class in time. However, Lindstrom announced that he wouldn't actually show them that day. With extra time, a second cut was edited and handed in in time for the premiere. DVD Release Two editions of the DVD were created. One just featured the film, and was distributed to school teachers and some Wazoo members. The second edition was created later and featured bonus features. These included bloopers =Trivia= *The song used as John and Yoko's song is "Experiment in Disharmony" by Duckspeak. It was meant to be released on Duckspeak's debut album, but now it may not make the album. *Originally, the Ed Sullivan performance was supposed to be "Till There Was You", but this was changed at literally the last second. *The extras in the "Help!" scene consist primarily of The Medfield Softball Team. *The film's final scene was shot, directed, and edited by Brett Coveney.